The day of my kuya's wedding

Kuya Rico, my cousin who I haven't seen in 20 years, got married on September 26, 2008. And I was able to drop in and attend it! The schedule was quite tight: I collected my luggage in Chicago's O'Hare close to 9am, after an overnight flight from Honolulu (with a connecting flight from Minneapolis at 7am), and Kuya Rico's wedding was at 4pm in Mundelein, a suburb about an hour's drive north from downtown Chicago. Good thing Kuya Allan, who is based in Michigan, was available to fetch me from the airport... naturally, my mom, ninang, and brother were with him! Daddy and Ninong Romy were not with them because they were playing golf.
As soon as I set my bags down at the hotel, the kuyas, and Biboy hauled me to the reception venue, a barn that Charlenne's (the bride) relatives were decorating. I helped out with setting up the bar with drinks arranged by type. I then had lunch with them, and caught up with my parents and godparents before preparing for the afternoon wedding.
I took a lot of pictures during the wedding. The day was sunny with a few clouds in the sky. Despite being the end of September, I didn't see many orange leaves signalling the start of autumn. It was a shame my DSLR did not have a memory card yet; I could have used that instead of my handy point-and-shoot camera, but just as well... I still didn't know how to use the DSLR anyway. Aside from me, Biboy and Kuya Allan were the other family shutterbugs. Instead of staying close to them, I ventured to other areas of the venue, so that we had different pictures, with minimal duplication. I also was tasked with the second reading. Apparently, my parents knew all along and rightly assumed that I would gladly do it. So it was just a matter of Kuya Rico telling me about it.
The toll of the travel, the jet lag from the time difference with Hawaii and Manila, and the actual event drained me by the time dinner began. Daddy and Mommy wanted me to go back to the hotel because I was starting to look grumpy. But back at the hotel, I couldn't sleep immediately... I fell asleep while uploading pictures of the wedding online for the family back home to see, only to be jarred awake by my parents' arrival. And the story-telling began again!

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